Sky pundit Tony Gale believes Arsenal fans would understand the sale of Alexis Sanchez, with the 28-year-old looking set for a move to Manchester City.

The former West Ham defender believes that the Arsenal fanbase would understand that selling Alexis would be the best thing to do for all parties involved. “I think they’d understand that,” Gale said reports the Express.

“I think they’d understand if a player is no use to them if he hasn’t got the right attitude. Obviously the financial side of it, Arsenal have got to get something for him. Unless they just let his contract run down and he goes on a free transfer. 

“I think they’d understand and if you were a real fan, you would want 11 players on the pitch all trying their hearts out at the moment. Because it isn’t good and they need a performance.”

I daresay he’s overestimating the fanbase if he thinks nobody would be upset by the move. There is some logic to it. Alexis doesn’t want to be at the club and Arsenal can make a lot of money off his sale. They could take the money and invest in someone who does want to be at the club.

However, that logic is unlikely to placate fans, who would want to know why the situation was allowed to reach this stage in the first place. Arsenal allowed Alexis’ contract to run down and failed to convince him to sign a new one.

That alone makes them look bad and will upset fans. They then said all summer that the player wouldn’t be sold, only to soften that stance right at the end. That has hardly improved the mood.

Whatever happens, the club have handled this very poorly and have to go a long way towards convincing the fans that their decisions were correct.